(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric supply device for a slide structure, which device is mounted on the slide structure such as a slide door of a motor vehicle so as to supply electric power to an auxiliary machine of the slide structure.
(2) Description of the Related Art
FIG. 6 shows an example of a conventional electric supply device for a slide door (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-25850; FIG. 2).
The conventional electric supply device 61 for a slide door includes a laterally long case 63 provided to a slide door 62 situated on the left side of a motor vehicle, a slider 64 slidably engaging with a guide rail (not shown in the figure) in the case 63, an oscillating member 65 which is supported by a shaft perpendicular to the slider 64 and oscillates in the horizontal direction, and a caterpillar-shaped harness armored member 66 which is mounted being bent in a U-shape within the case 63 and arranged flexibly in a range from the oscillating member 65 to a vehicle body (not shown in the figure).
The harness armored member 66 is covered with a tube 67 between the slide door 62 and the vehicle body. A plurality of electric wires (i.e. wiring harness) pass through inside the harness armored member 66 and the slider 64.
When the slide door 62 is opened in a direction of an arrow A (i.e. in a rearward direction of the vehicle) from a state shown in FIG. 6, the slider 64 is relatively moved forward along the case 63 while the wiring harness 68 together with the harness armored member 66 extends in a J-shape in the case 63. The wiring harness 68 together with the harness armored member 66 extends or contracts as the slide door 62 is opened or closed, so that a slack of the wiring harness is absorbed.
However, in the conventional electric supply device 61 for a slide door, since the case 63 is arranged laterally long to the slide door 62, therefore the degree of freedom might be restricted in a layout of the other electric equipment or auxiliary machine.
For the purpose of resolving the above problem, it is considered that the case 63 is formed wide in the up-and-down direction and the wiring harness 68 is arranged being bent in a U-shape in the case 63 so as to shorten the front-and-rear length of the case 63 and the front-and-rear length of the wiring harness 68 in the case 63. However, in such a case, the slider 64 is affected by the downward pressing force due to the bending-counterforce of the wiring harness 68 and the sliding resistance of the slider 64 with respect to the guide rail is increased, thereby causing problems that the slider 64 and the guide rail are worn down due to the repeated opening and closing of the door and the sliding characteristic of the slider 64 is deteriorated especially when the slide door 62 is being opened, resulting in that the operation force required to open the slide door 62 is increased.
Moreover, for example, the electric wires are hardened when the temperature is low, causing the slider to be hardly moved, resulting in that the operation force required to move the slider is increased, that is, causing the deterioration in the opening-and-closing operation characteristic of the slide door 62.
The problems described above are not limited to the case of the slide door 62 of a motor vehicle and also occur in a case in which the conventional electric supply device 61 is applied to a slide structure such as a slide door of a vehicle except a motor vehicle or a slide door of a processing machine.